You saw it all, Lord, on that other bright, September morning. . . . when a few men in four planes changed our worlds. The rubble has been cleared away, but  the pictures are forever seared in our memories. Memories of the nearly three thousand men and women and children who were dashed into eternity that day. Today we honor their memory. We grieve with their families, standing with them in the stillness of their loss.

We would also stand with Jeremiah, Lord, on that 9.11 day twenty-five hundred years ago as he watched his beloved city and its temple crumble into dust. “My eyes fail because of tears, My spirit is greatly troubled; my heart is poured out on the earth, because of the destruction of the daughter of my people.” With Jeremiah we would also call out to our world, “Is it nothing to all you who pass this way? Look and see if there is any pain like my pain.”

We know that You care, Lord, and that you understand our pain as we remember that day. But You have also told us that in everything we should give thanks, and this we joyfully do. We thank You Lord . . .

• for the many who survived and for the brave men and women who risked, and sometimes lost their lives, in their rescue. We pray that this experience at the door of death will bring many to yourself.
• for Todd Beamer and his reverberating witness to his resurrected Lord. Like Abel, “though being dead, he yet speaks.”
• for Lisa Beamer, and the opportunities you have given her to show thousands the way to eternal safety. Continue to encourage her Lord, and bring many to yourself as they reflect on her witness that has cost her so much.
• for the CIU team that you pre-prepared and sent on their unique mission to the streets of New York. May the seed they sowed bear much fruit.
• for your church in America and around the world. Purify us, Lord and energize us to “make the most of the time, for the days are evil.”
• for those who have gone among the millions who are blinded by Satan’s lies, to shine the light of truth. Encourage them and give them much fruit in their ministries. Bring many out of their darkness.
• for those who are asking, “Where was God?” May they come to know that God was there in New York, and that He was also on a cross in Jerusalem on that other dark day, dying for them.
• for showing us that there are limits to our control in this world. Continue to humble us, Lord, that we may know that it is “not by might or by power, but by My Spirt, says the Lord.”
• for reminding us of the preciousness of life and the certainty of death and the ultimate importance of knowing You.
• for our president George W. Bush and his wife Laura. We ask you to give to him and the leaders of our country, wisdom to know and to act rightly in these volatile hours of our history. We pray especially for our president as he speaks to the United Nations tomorrow. You alone know the historic potential of his words. You alone can determine their impact.